What Turning the Other Cheek Actually Means | Matthew 5:38-42

Show Notes

Episode 854: 
In this episode of The Bible Guys, Chris and Jeff tackle a listener’s question about Jesus’ teaching to “turn the other cheek” and how it fits with the Old Testament principle of “an eye for an eye.” They explain the original purpose of the law, showing how Jesus shifts the focus from legal justice to personal responses marked by grace and mercy. Through biblical context and relatable stories, the hosts highlight how true strength is found in responding to offense with love rather than revenge.

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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Good morning, good morning, we talk through good morning, good morning, do you and you and you? Good job Chris, Hey, good morning. Everybody waiting for it? Well, Thursday, we're hoping Thursday is a star. Wishing upon a star. So funny. Hey, welcome to the Bible guys. This is Christian Jeff And whether it's evening or morning, thank you for tuning in. We're talking about the beatitudes. But before we dive into that, we have a stump the pasture. I love these yeah, well why do you love them? Because they're fun? I love the open forum, Q and A top of your head. Yeah, hey, pastor, I was thinking about this thing. I love that environment. I like to do it with the young adults. Yep. Usually once or twice a year. Like to do with our high schoolers and these kids. The last time I did it with the young adults, they stayed like midnight. It was nuts. When when did it begin? When did the Q and A begin? Seven? Wow? Yeah, so I was there they were, they had a big dinner. I think it was like seven o'clock seven or eight that I got there and we were done it just at midnight, just before midnight. Wow. Yeah, and they're just asking, just asking questions. Yeah, Hey, I was reading about this. I read about this. What do we think about this? Why is this true? Or that true? High schools will do the same thing. I did it on one with high school last year that lasted till around eleven. As a matter of fact, the parents were sitting around the outside of the room, so I came to pick up their kids and I'm like, hey, I'll stay as long as everybody wants to ask questions, but your mom and dad are here, so make sure your mom and dad say it's okay. Next thing, you know, we got like fifty people to sit in the room just asking questions. I love that stuff. It's fun because people, You know, if you really know what you believe, you don't have to worry about people asking questions and challenging it. Right, if you really know God's words, God's word is strong enough to stand up under the longest criticisms or critiques your questions. That's not threatened by your questions. This is why Jeremiah says, come, let's reason together. Says the Lord, that's right. Anyways, I love them. This is from Eddie A. Hi Eddie, and Eddie A says, Hey, guys, just want to start with I love the show. Thanks Eddie. Well, my question is about when Jesus talks about an eye for an eye and a sermon on the mountain similar to Chris, which, by the way, happens to be our passage for today. Yes, des placed them together perfect Similar to Chris, I find myself being a bit of a skeptic. I was confused why Jesus quotes God's word eye for an eye, but then goes on to say something completely different, like turning the other cheek. I was wondering if there is a moment where Jesus changed the law or if it means something else. Furthermore, I find myself struggling with these moments of question in doubt and was wondering if you can share a time when you questioned God's word or doubted and how God helped you through that. Thanks and God bless Eddie A. So a couple different, Yeah, great question, Yeah, simple question or simple answer, Eddie is, uh, it's something else entirely. He didn't he didn't change the law, and he's not ignoring one and then making a new one. Right, something else entirely different. But I appreciate it when somebody's honest about Hey, I struggle with some of these things. And as I would say, is God's not threatened by your questions, and there are plausible answers to your questions. Right, So what did you mean by God's not changing the law or making a new one? Yeah, So when you read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and I mentioned this right before the show started, Yeah, this is great. Yeah, So the book of Exodus is God establishing the law. Then Leviticus is an extension of Exodus in that he now is unpacking the levitical side, how all the the sacrifices and you know, the tabernacle and all those things, how that's going to be managed those two things. And then numbers and Numbers is kind of a generic version of it. He goes back and reminds them, and Deuteronomy is a restatement at the end of Moses's forty years wandering the wilderness with these people, so he keeps having to come back and re reminding them of the law. And so you break the law into pieces. There's the social law, which is you and I should not be killing each other. You and I shouldn't be telling lies to each other. We should be obeying our parents. We shouldn't just be. Worshiping one god. All of us should be honoring a sabbath. Let's not be coveting, let's not you know whatever. So those are social things, and there's a number of laws like that. There are a bunch of levitical laws. The altar needs to be this size, the tabernacle needs to be built like this. The priests have to go through these ceremonies in order to be clean enough to be able to do the sacrifices. Here's where the holy holies goes, the Beama seat, all that kind of stuff. Right, that's all the levitical law. And then there's the government laws. Because God was setting up Israel's a theocracy, so then he says all these rules, like, okay, so if you have to go to court and one guy's ox killed another guy's ox, here's what you need to do. Excuse me. You have to replace the dead animal with a living animal. Right. If a camel gets away and runs over somebody, this is the civil consequence. And so there's all these civil laws that he gives. So you have to understand that when Jesus says, when Jesus quotes an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth, that comes up in Exodus, it comes up in Leviticus, and it comes up in Deuteronomy. All of them are in the context of government civil law. In Exodus he's talking about how to treat servants, how to treat animals. In Leviticus he's talking about in that whole same passage, he's talking about if somebody accidentally kills somebody, if somebody kills somebody on purpose, whatever. And he tells the judges and he lives says to the judges, the judges have to thoroughly investigate, and then don't be gentle with your judgment. If they did it, then whatever they did, that's the same punishment they get, right, And so's he's not giving the judges any wiggle room. And then in Deuteronomy, where he quotes it, and this is where Jesus was quoting from was I think was Deuteronomy, it says you must not convict anyone of a crime on the testimony of only one witness. The facts of the case should be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. So you can clearly see this a court room kind of situation. Then he goes on. He says, if a malicious witness comes forward and accuses of someone of a crime, they both accused, and the accused must appear before the Lord by coming to the priests and the judges in office at the time. So now we have official judges. This is a government circumstance that's happening. And then it says that they have to thoroughly investigate. The judges thoroughly investigate. The judges must investigate the case thoroughly. If the accuser has brought false charges against his fellow Israelite, you must impose on the accuser the incentence he intended for the other person. And this way you will purge such evil from among you. So let's talk about this. So this passage is saying, if if somebody brings a false case just trying to ruin you. I'm a powerful guy, you're a weak guy. I bring a case against you. It is totally fraudulent, but I'm trying to get your land. I'm trying to get your your servants. I'm trying to get your animals. I'm trying to ruin your reputation so I can take over, right, wild wild West kind of thing, one rancher against another rancher kind of thing. And I'm trying to and I'm trying to ruin your reputation. Well, first of all, I need to bring two or three witnesses. But if I can't bring two or three witnesses, and this says, the judges have to investigate thoroughly. And if they find out I trumped up this entire accusation and I'm just trying to ruin you. Whatever I was trying to have done to you, now the judges are required to do to me. Right. I heard, I heard he murdered somebody and buried him in the backyard, and that's a death penalty issue. I heard that he was committing adultery, and that's a death penalty issue. Whatever, whatever the consequence of what I was accusing you of. Now, if it turns out it was a false accusation, I'm supposed to be executed the same way that I was trying to get you executed, right, Yeah, And so it's in that context, then he says, in this way, you'll purge this evil. You'll purge false testimony when the consequence is as heavy as what the bad guy was hoping, what happened to the person who's accusing. Right, That's what he's saying. Make the consequence as heavy on the person who lied as it would have been on the person if it was true. Right, And it's in that consequence he says, you must verse twenty one, You must show no pity for the guilty. Your rule should be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. So he's talking to judges, saying, have no mercy in this moment. If somebody is a liar, accusing somebody falsely, no mercy on that person. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, for foot, hand for hand. That's what Jesus is quoting. So Jesus is quoting a government verse, and he's saying, but you're wanting to take this into your own hands. You feel like somebody punched you, you get to punch him back. You think that somebody took advantage of you, you get to take advantage of them. Eye for an eye, And he's saying this isn't you're right, revenge that's that verse. Isn't about revenge, that versus about judgment from judges. Right, And what you're wanting to do now is use it as a personal You think it's okay to be a vigilanti, to go get your own justice. And Jesus is saying, no, if it's a personal issue, not a government civil issue, it's a personal issue, you turn the other cheek. You don't punch him back because they punched you. If they ask you to go one mile, go to if they sue you for your coat, give him your cloak. Also, right, Jesus is saying, listen, if this is personal, you have no my people, followers have no right to take from others, right to try to get back from them. He says, instead, you go beyond. But that's different from the civil law. So he's not changing the law. He's differentiating between the intent of civil law and your personal right to expect vigilanteism. Right. And on top of all that, let's not forget also, Eddie, that Jesus also said a new command that I bring to you love one another. So Jesus is introducing the idea of mercy. He's introducing the idea of like saying, Hey, that's why he told his disciples. Everybody lords things over everybody else. He says, but with you, it shall be different. Right with you, it shall be different. For those who follow Christ. He always challenges us to think a brand new way, and that's part of that as well. He's saying, Hey, if you're a follower of me, then you're gonna love one another. You're gonna love your enemies, You're gonna pray for those who persecute you. You're going to you know, and by the way, slapping the other cheek, we're about to read that, but slapping the other cheek wasn't much an assault as it was an insult. Yeah, And so he's saying, like, he's talking about character more than anything else. And so he's introducing this idea of taking the high road, showing mercy, loving one another. And yeah, you're absolutely right, he's not changing the law. By the time Moses's law was being practiced in Jesus's day, people were using it for revenge, an excuse to get revenge on whatever. Yeah. So God in the Old Testament, when he gives us the three different times he talks about eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth. He's defining, make sure that the consequence is as significant as the offense. But he's also limiting the consequences. If if I took an eye, they can't behead me, right, So he's limiting the consequences. He's defining a narrow range. You can't go less than the consequence needs to be equal to the offense, or there's no justice, but it can't exceed the offense, or that's not just either. So he gives this kind of limit, and that's a civil issue. So God does not view and Jesus doesn't either. Jesus said give us eed, do that with your caesars. Jesus does not diminish civil responsibility in the civil laws and civil government. He doesn't do it. Paul tells us obey those who have the rule over us, right, obey the government that God's put in place. There's a reason why they carry the sword, is what he says in Romans chapter thirteen. Unless it conflicts with God's work, that's right. So he's not dismissing the civil law. He's differentiating, saying, you can't take this into your own hands if it's a situation that does not rise to a civil suit. It's appropriate for Christians to deal with a thing that can't be If you have a property issue between you and your neighbor and your neighbor wants to put his fence on your side, say no, put it on the line, or put it on your side if you want. If your neighbor wants to cut down your tree, right and you can't sort it out, go go go work that out. That's not just to go ahead and let your neighbor put you know, his fence on your property. You go sort it out with the civil government. That's okay. Jesus is differentiating between what the civil government can do and what you can do as an individual if it doesn't rise to a civil issue where you need to go before a judge. Jesus says, go past it now. It's a mercy thing, right, and and act like Jesus would act that. That's what he's saying there. And so I don't see this as a new rule. I don't see it as him changing the rules. He's he's correcting them, saying you're misusing this for your own anger and your own your own need for revenge. And so I think Jesus is deepening the meaning here, not not changing the meaning. Well, that's great. And and by the way, here's the transition between the segment and the script. You're reading. Ready for this, here's the transition. Hey, Eddie, that's exactly the verses we're about. To read, exactly. So Matthew chapter five, we're reading the beatitudes, and Jesus says, God blesses those who are humble or those who are meek. Yesterday we established a couple days ago, we established the idea that meekness is strength under control. That's right, right, So it's not meekness, isn't weakness. And in this situations, in this situation, Jesus is defining a little bit what this would look like. And he says in Matthew chapter five, verse thirty eight, you've heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury. An eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth. But I say, do not resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek. Also, if you are sued in court, your sure it is taken from you, give your coat too. If a soldier to meand that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles, give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to borrow. Right. So again he's addressing the attitude. And I think we've covered a lot of these things, but this is where you get turn the other cheek, this is where you get the I mean, this is a cultural phrase that we still hear. Go the extra mile. Boy, he really went the extra mile. You want to know where they came from. That came from Jesus saying go the extra mile. And so back then, Roman soldiers could legally force a Jew to carry their equipment one mile. That's right, And so Jesus not to He couldn't make you. You know, they had mile markers on the Roman roads, and on Roman roads he could make you carry because it was definitive. Here's a mile marker, there's a mile marker, and so you have to carry it one mile. And so Jesus is saying, saturay people with love. You know the idea that the idea that when Jesus came along, he changed everything. And you know the power of servant servanthood and love, like when Jesus washed the feets of the servant, you know, or the yeah, when he washed everybody's feet as a servant. That's what I was trying to say. There's this power of love that Jesus brought to the earth. Right, so Jesus said, hey. In John one seventeen, he says, Moses came to bring you the law, he said, but I've given you both truth and grace. So Jesus does bring a different dynamic of grace and he brings love. And so what Jesus is really demonstrating here is he's saying, hey, man, By the way, the sentiment that I'm trying to express, I thought that The Chosen really depicted this particular thing very well, because when you watch this episode, the Roman soldiers come up to the Jews and they give them all their equipment, their helmets, their swords and everything, and they're like hey, ha ha, and they're making fun of them. They're like, hey, you carry this and all these kind of things. And then Jesus takes everything and he says, yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. So they carry it and they get done with the mile, and then Jesus goes, you know what, let's just carry it one more mile with them and then all of a sudden, the Roman soldiers feel bad and they go, you're just going to carry it an extra mile and you don't have to. She's like, yeah, we'd like to help you, even though they were like making fun of them everything else. So at the end of the second mile, about halfway through it, I guess, one of the Roman soldiers goes, here, let me let me carry that helmet. H and he takes it back, right, and he goes, he goes, he goes, that looks really heavy. I'm sorry, And all of a sudden it's just and it's killing people with kindness. It's this idea that Jesus is demonstrating the power of love. Well, this is I think in our culture right now, we have a sense of victimhood from so many people. Right, A victim carries it a mile, right, A free man, a better man goes beyond right, right, That's that's it's it's literally, you're a slave when you get up and you have to obey the rules, but when you go beyond that, you're just proving I'm a better man. I'm a better man than you, right, right, that's what you're doing. There's there's something to that that goes now. I can't be a jerk about it and a snob, but it is what you're doing right when when when you when you are trying to start a fight, the Book of Proverbs says only by pride comes contention, right, and it's two people. Bible talks about it takes two people to fight, right. So if I decide not to fight, there's no fight. Hit me in a face it makes you feel good in the moment. Pow, you punch me because you want to fight with me, and then I just offer the other one man, if that made you feel good, hit this one. Right. As I say it means, I'm not going to be baited down to your level. I'm rising above you. I'm rising above the way you're choosing to live. I'm going to go you can. You can require me one mile. I'm your slave when I go to I'm a free man doing whatever I want to do because I'm a better man. Right, I turned my other cheek. I'm not going to be baited into going down to your level. I'm rising above you, and that that's really not above you as a human, but above your behavior. My behavior is going above your behavior. I'm going to be a better man. And I don't think that that's It can't be misinterpreted as let people walk all over you. No, And it can't be interpreted as in any fight, it's it's wrong to defend yourself no, or fight back. This isn't This is an open handed slab. That's this is an offensive slab. How dare you right? That's what it is. It's trying to start the fight. It's not actually the fight. Yeah, it's right, it's right, And that's exactly correct. It's like in the old days when they would take a white glove. And that's exactly offer the other one. Yeah, I'm not going to fight. You go ahead, and so yeah, so I mean, don't misinterpret me when I say if i'm if, i'm if I'm going to practice turning the other cheek. That doesn't necessarily mean that if you come and try to beat me up, I'm gonna let you beat me up. Oh. The Bible is really clear on this. So you know, Eddie asked us questions about the law. One of the one of the laws, and those passages talks about if somebody breaks into your house and you struggle with them to protect yourself, your family or your property and they die, you're not guilty, right, right, So this idea self defense is perfectly legit. It's okay to protect ourselves. God doesn't expect us to be weak, and he doesn't expect us to be walked over. But this is not that, right, this is this is not as salt, that's right, and let's be let's be honest. Our definition socially today of assault is you touched my shirt. That's as salt, right, it's so, But you and I really know what assault. Even worse than that, you said some things. Yeah, yeah, you said some words. Well, in France, right now, you can you can be convicted just of words. In Britain, you can be convicted of words. Right, that's assault. It's a hate crime or whatever. Right, it's unbelievable, that's not the same. But I think instinctively our listeners know real assault is a beat down, right, it's physical attack, right, smacking somebody with a glove saying you know, I challenge you to a duel. Instead of taking the challenge for the duel, you turn the other cheek, right, right, make them think about it, do it again, right, that's what you're doing here. So God allows us to defend ourselves. Jesus at one point rate before he gets arrested, he asks the disciples how many swords do we have? And they go, well, we got to Jesus, that's enough. They had more than one. Right, what do you use a sword for? Right? Right? Self protection? You know why? Because they were walking on roads that were extraordinarily dangerous, so you had to give off an image of strength in order to not get run over by the criminals on the road to steal everything. So they had swords. Swords aren't something you hide. They wind up being out on your belt. People can see them. You're carrying it in a big sheath. We're not talking about a little knife. We're talking about a sword, right, And so even Jesus not only did he want to know do my disciples have them? He knew they had them, He expected them to have him. He was just taking a survey of how many do we have? That's right, right, right, And so it would be like, hey, how many nine millimeters are you guys carrying right now? Right? That it's the equivalent right that sure is right. And so Jesus is not against self defense. This is when somebody's trying to commit an offense, trying to offend you. He turned the other cheek. But he doesn't say, go ahead and take the beat down. Let him break all your ribs, in your nose and your jaw, put you out of work and put you in a coma. He doesn't say that, right. Yeah, I remember. I remember when I was at McDonald's or burger King or something, and somebody kept on like picking up my food, even though they bought the same meal and they had eaten their whole meal, they were buying my food. I just I just said, hey, you want more. I just gave them all my food. And then my buddy says, how could you let them do that? And I quoted this verse. I said, hey, let's if they're going to be rude about it, they know they're being rude. I just demonstrated in front of everybody at this lunch table. I'm the better I'm the better person. We had a thing a while back and it wound up being a legal issue that I was trying to navigate through, and then talking with our attorneys, I said, if we win this, I still want to give them everything they're asking for. And he looked at me and he was like, what why, I said, because Jesus said, if they sue you for your coat, give them your cloak also, right. So it wound up being a settled thing and it went away. It was it wasn't an issue. We didn't settle it. It was an insurance company that settled it. But I was thinking this way that hey, what I want to do is somebody's trying to hurt us. Right. This wasn't a I didn't believe it was a just issue. Somebody's trying to do damage. And so when they're trying to do damage, I wanted to come back with the message, you can't hurt me when I give it freely. Right, right. And then the insurance companies wind up resolving it and it took us completely out of our hands. We couldn't do anything from that point. Legally, I couldn't go that down that route at that point. But that was the intent. So I'm not saying, oh, look at me. I'm saying, there are practical ways to look at it. The filter was not am I being sued. The filter was why, because they're trying to hurt me. It's not because of any damages that I did, right. They were trying to hurt me. And so in that situation, if it was in my power, even though I was going to win this, I'll go ahead and give it to you. And he says, if somebody sues you for your coat, give me your your shirt, give them your coat. He says, give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to borrow. There's a place in proverbs that says, when somebody asks to borrow, just give it to him, right, don't don't don't don't expect it back, give it to the don't expect them to repay. And I think that there is something to this that what you're doing is you're deciding what kind of man are you or a woman? Yeah, you're not affected by them. They're bad behavior, smacking you on the cheek, demanding that you do something you don't want to do, suing you unreasonably. What kind of person are you going to be? Their behavior doesn't matter anymore. And this is what Jesus is inviting us to do, is I am not going to react to your bad behavior and go down to your level, because Jesus has called me to walk above it. Right, and that includes not only people trying to harm you, or you know, being a jerk, but it could just be somebody who's unkind. Yeah, just be kind to somebody who's unkind. So think about that. The next time somebody walks in your office or your place of business and they're just being completely unkind, just know that if you just are kind back, maybe they'll realize, Wow, how unusual is this person being or being kind to me when I'm being unkind to them? And that's the power of change. Well, you see this actually happening with Paul writing multiple times. And thank God, while I'm in prison, I've also been able to share the guards with many of the Gospel many guards, and some of them have become followers of Jesus. Right, why because he's treating them far better than any other prisoner whatever, treat them. That's right, that's right, it works. That's great. Hey, what a great unpacking of these verses. We'll see you tomorrow on the Bible, guys,